Saturday, November 28

The Fox Islands Wind Project is a community-based wind development that will provide residents of North Haven and Vinalhaven Islands (Maine) with clean, renewable energy from three 1.5-megawatt turbines. The turbines are nearly 400 feet tall and the project is the largest community-based wind project on the East Coast. As a matter of fact, it will make these two sistering islands virtually energy independent. It is the first project on the East Coast of the US who made it possible for 1300 or so islanders to use wind instead of fossil fuels. I do not have the statistics in front of me, but they do exist, and the savings of spitting out Carbon monoxide and such is enormous. It is something in the vicinity of burning 10'000'000 gallons of gasoline ... or more, the equivalent of thousands of acres of cut trees (and their emissions) and so on. So I am happy, even though my friend Ethan moans and groans about the "noise" from the propellers, he is just an oversensitive kid, not knowing priorities in life yet.

OK, there is always the question of demand, usage and storage of energy. So the cable to the mainland was not "cut". Excess electricity will be fed back to the grid. I sometimes wonder about this, how it will work out in the future when more and more solar and wind energy "farms" sprout up, either on private ground and or sponsored by commercial interests. Someone has to maintain "the grid", someone has to pay for the maintenance of it, the sole logical storage and sharing of electric energy. In the mean time I am very proud that finally an island in the US, and it is my island, became quasi energy independent.I hope many more islands will follow suit. Fossil fuels will run out at some point, still in my lifetime, that I know. It is better to invest into a future of zero fossil fuels now than talking the avenue of waiting forever until some kind of blasé miracle will (not) happen.

usually pictures posted here are mine, sometimes I cheat and post modified copies of others (2% or less maybe?) anyhow, to see the full sized images, click on the pic...

Sunday, November 15

Just learned a new one today: "Enhanced interrogation". It was used in a response on NPR radio by a interviewee during some kind of questioning of what Guantanamo peoples will face, in evidence what they said before and after they had been tortured, and how their trial in New York will be affected by these two different kind of "evidence-statements". Needles to say, the morbid part of my mind started laughing out real loud. Enhanced interrogation procedures are synonymous with torture, no doubt. The guy who did the interview put it that way, the gal who answered questions, chose a "political correct" answer.

This makes me wonder about "correctness" in general and how we name and label things.

A person with down-syndrome was called Mongoloid in the 70's, probably not the right labeling. But "they" wouldn't care less. Now, down-syndrome has been disenfranchised in the 90's to: Mentally disabled. In 2000 something, it changed again - to mentally disadvantaged.

That's just one example.

The other day my wife was telling by the dinner table that a friend from New York would come up with her African friend (actually husband) for Thanks Giving, a holiday that is celebrated in the US. My daughter exploded: You can't say it this way mom, that's putting the guy down!

I got upset. There is nothing wrong or incorrect to say where a person comes from, may it be Africa, Japan, Europe or from Australia or anywhere else.

I got upset, because it is in our minds where we create separations and borders. And the beautiful language of "political correctness" will never be able to eradicate hindrances, no matter how soft we phrase our wordings.

The trend to remedy social inadequacies by using smooth terminology in hopes to dilute definitions is a blatant and desperate move of a society who has lost their language to speak.

I have been called a "white nigger" in a "black nigger bar" in Harlem NY, and I am proud of it!
After dancing around, the checking out of this and that, the diminishing level of testosterone and all the other bullshit gone, we decided to be regular humans, no color, no label.
I gave his woman a hug and left the club, he smiled.

We all should stick to the truth and say things the way they are, describing them how they really are and not hide behind soft language. That doesn't mean that you can't be polite. But political correctness now has taken over almost any avenue to be direct, to actually voice an issue.

Tuesday, November 10

All leaves have fallen, trees are barren. And again the "Indian Summer" tickles some flowers out of a dormant state - in this region.It is kind of spooky, that Scorpio energy of November, neither here nor there, but ready to kill in an instant, randomly, self imposed.The recent shooting and killings on a US military base are a "fine" example.The mood and quality of Scorpio has virtue though. It defines with a surgeons precision where you stand and what you aim for. It kills the beast within yourself.The resurrection (or counter image) of the Scorpio is the Eagle, same precision, same keen observational skills.Let the Eagle take over!